Origin of Language
by Exalted Jade
Summary: Another of my Exalted stories.  Please read and review.


1Before the Primordial's had awakened from within the endless Wyld. Before there was a Creation. There was only the unshaped, the lords of the Wyld. They interacted with each other on abstract levels that the mind of any being that came after would never understand. Consuming each other for power and to spread themselves out further. It was a dangerous place in the infinite possibilities of the Wyld.

At this time the Unshaped where made up of a few component souls. But unlike a Primordial the Unshaped did not draw upon these souls to define itself any further than it needed to exist. There was one of the Unshaped whose name was never remembered, but was the first among the Primordial's. It gathered its sub-souls at its very center and they watched each other. An immeasurable amount of time passed as they sat there watching each other. A period of reflection.

What followed was an invent that can still be heard in the Wyld if one listens hard enough. For the unshaped spoke the first words "I am" and after it, its sub-souls spoke "We are". It was act of genesis that would forever change existence. For no other Unshaped had ever used the spoken word to define itself and its component souls. It drew on this power to change itself into something much more. But yet it was not born with all its terrible power. It was on a journey to truly know what "I am" meant to define itself from the rest of the Unshaped.

And so it started on a journey through the endless totality of the Wyld. Its journey was long as it reflected on what it had become. As it passed through the Wyld its essence touched that of 25 other Unshaped. To them they where gifted with the power of the spoken word. The greatest created before or since that moment. It was in these early years when the Primordial's examined what they had become that they began to seek each other out. And for the first time multiple beings used words to communicate with each other.

"We have gathered together to learn about what were given" Spoke one of the Primordial's as it gazed upon the others. Their titanic forms only truly visible to each other due to their complex make up of their own essence and sub-souls.

"These words have a power. They give us the ability to create and to know" Spoke another Primordial. For truly did the spoken word given great power. It would usher in a new era of thought and being. It is with words that any species can use to define its own existence and that of the things around it. That is the power of words. The greatest tool any being as ever used.

"What shall we do with the words. There are so many of them. To define an unlimited number of things." This Primordial looked to the others.

"Let us build. To use the words to shape around us. To give us a created thing" And so the two Primordial's that would become known in later ages as Cytherea and Gaia came together. Using the power of their voices they shaped Creation. The power they used would later be known as sorcery. Its origins dating to the first words ever used to create something. No being that could not talk, hear or understand would ever grasp this power.

From this act was a spontaneous generation of creative power. The twisted lines of essence that made up the Wyld began to untangle. To lay out in precise geomantic configurations. At the site of the first words, that would anchor all of existence, became the element of Earth. As the elements came together their Creation took form. Primal and vast it turned the endless wyld into a stable thing in each they could create and then define.

They became one with Creation. The words they spoke bound their essence with that of Creation. Nothing would ever truly separate them from what was rightfully theirs. In the beginning the Primordial's created simple things. From all the plants to the simple animals. But so far none of their creations understood the spoken word and they could not create. And this troubled many. Before they could act they had a visitor from outside the bounds of Creation.

They gathered at the site of the first spoken word. Near the place where the city of Meru would eventually be built. They knew who was coming. Even though they never seen it before, part of them knew what was happening. It came down from the heavens. Its form long and serpentine. It had 6 small eyes around the 7th larger eye. Its long body covered in scales, each scale held the symbol of a language that was yet to ever be spoke. It had a wing for every dialect. It had 25 arms, for the beings it helped to define. Each arm ending in 8 digits for the defining souls of each of those Primordial's.

It spoke in the first language. The one that all the Primordial's would use. It was the first dialect of the Old Realm. The purest form of all language that echoed with the power of the first spoke words "If you chose to create another being that can use the power of the spoken word. Be warned that they will in turn use it to create. And then those things will create. It will be an eternal cycle. And I urge you to consider if that is what you truly want. During my sojourn in the Wyld I brushed against each of you in turn. For each of you where like me. And in so doing I set into motion what is happening now. I am not your father, your creator nor do I hold any claims of power over you. Make sure this is what you so desire" Who is to say what its seven eyes witnessed in its moment of genesis.

"I must go now. There may be others out there that are willing to listen. To change and to grow. I do not know if I shall see you again. May the power of the word always remain. It is the light that will the darkness at bay" And with his final words his form broke apart into an uncountable number of birds. Leaving behind an obelisk that held a tiny letter for every language to come. And in so doing left a small anchor to this Creation so that he may return.

In the silence of his departure the Primordial's looked out over Creation lit only by the green sun. Birds flew through the clouds. Animals hunted and grazed all around them. Creation was still growing. Storms raged around its edges. Quakes shook the ground and volcanos spewed out the blood of Creation. But to them it felt incomplete. Without others to understand what they had done they saw little point in continuing existence as it was forming.

Then one of the spoke "If we do not create another that can understand what we have done then all we have done is for nothing. And we must ask ourselves at what cost will creating such beings do to us?"

"Let us create beings of essence. Shaped from the very fabric of existence. Let us give to them what he gave to us. But ensure they can never hurt us or to undermine what we have done. To give them boundaries and definitions" This was spoken by She Who Lives in Her Name. The Primordial of definition, limits and hierarchy. It is off of her that they will base the gods off of.

And so they tasked Autochthon to construct for them beings of essence that would be like them but smaller. More defined. His first act of genesis he gathered the essence of light, perfection and strength together. Molding them into a figure of a man with four arms, long flowing hair and white eyes. In the sky high above the sun burst into existence, casting its warming light upon Creation for the first time.

In his second act of making he gathered shadows, reflections and instilled in this essence a changing form. And in so doing he created the moon and her changing face. She shifted between her many faces quickly in those early days. With no drive or purpose beyond that which she was given.

In his final act of the original making he gathered that which would define the way things progressed. He understood the greater works to come and crafted these first beings of essence to ensure they would fulfill their functions well. For all the Primordial's shared this commonality of purpose in the opening epochs of existence. With their making 5 females came into being. Each one a different star in the sky above.

The Primordial's gathered once more on the slopes of the mountain to gaze at their brothers work. But they where disappointed. For these beings acted solely within what they where built to do. No creative urge of their own. No drive or desire. But then it was Gaia who spoke to each of them.

To the first "I give you a name and it shall be the Unconquered Sun. Your perfection, grace and strength shall ensure the survival of all that as been shaped. To you I give this metal, this orichalcum. It shall be your thing to shape to your desire" She frowned when she only witnessed a small change in his actions. Puzzled as to why he was not rejoicing in the gifts he was given. And then she realized "And I give to you the power of words" In that moment his eyes flashed and he understood. And the Primordial's where happy.

To the second she spoke "Your name shall be Luna. Your changing face shall bring the cycles to the animals of the world. Your many faces will be a guide to others. To you I give moonsilver, the flowing metal that is most like you. Shape it as you will. And at last I give you the power of words" And just as before her eyes flashed and she understood. She gained control over her many faces and settled into a pattern that continues into the second age.

To the five sisters she spoke "You will be the maidens. In times to come your actions shall define the fates of all other things. You will act in accordance to what serves Creation. The thing that belongs to all of you is the metal that falls from the heavens, starmetal. Shape it as you will. And lastly I give to you the power of words so that you might understand all that has been given" And they blinked in unison and for the first time recognized each other and all that they where given.

Again the Primordial's where pleased at what transpired. And so they created other beings of essence. Lesser than the first ones but still capable of helping them. And most importantly they could understand the spoken word. In time the sky was filled with the stars for each god the Primordial's made. And they where thrilled when actions not their own brought a new god into existence, and a new star in the sky. The Primordial's knew every god that they made and came after.

For a long time the Primordial's within their world bodies floated above Creation for Yu-Shan had not yet been built. And they listened to the voices of the gods. The power the words had given them. At the place of their birth upon the slopes of Mount Meru, which the gods had named. They built a beautiful city with the things they where given. They where content as the listened, but it time the urge to create drew them back. This creative urge would only later be rivaled by the Solar Exalted.

This time though they acted differently. They began to experiment with no only beings of essence but of flesh and of the earth. They began to mold the first Dragon-Kings together. Many of these first beings where not like they wanted so instead of destroying them they built a prison far beneath Creation and sent them there. To needlessly destroy a being that understood the spoken word was abhorrent to them in the early epochs. In time they perfected the design and the first true Dragon-Kings emerged. They where given dominion over the 4 directions around the center. The Dragon-Kings where the last species the Primordial's worked collectively together with.

They watched in fascination as the Dragon-Kings developed. From their first cities. To the artifacts they used to enhance their lives above what they started with. And to the language they developed on their own. It was like theirs but different. It was their first experience with a new language and one they learned quickly. Their Creation echoed with words, with power. It was not the artifacts, the gods or the legions of Dragon-Kings that kept the Unshaped at bay. It was language. So long as there was a spoken word Creation would continue to exist and the madness of the Wyld would be held at bay. Only when language and its understanding faded would Creation be truly lost.

What followed was a flowering of life. The Primordial's built many things. Behemoths roamed Creation as the Primordial's began to perfect original designs. Whole new species emerged created by individual Primordial's seeking a creative outlet. Soon nearly every corner of Creation held life and it was only then the Primordial's rested. And it was in these moments that Yu-Shan was built. While their world bodies floated in the skies overhead their main intelligence existed within Yu-Shan as they and their sub-souls relaxed in elegant splendor. They did not imagine the gods where growing jealous. For it is the darker nature of words that helps spread violence, rumors and to inflame passions.

During this time Autochthon found the first of the Jadeborn and carved him from stone and his subsequent return visits. And the birth of a new species brought a new language. And from the depths of the wyld he watched with seven eyes. He would not interfere with their actions knowing full well the consequences of what was to come. He gave them their warning and they chose to move ahead. And so it was done.

The First was found by the other Primordial's. Always curious and always creative they took him away. Taking him apart piece by piece they learned how it was he existed. Through several centuries this continued, for time was now recorded, no longer fluid like it was in the Wyld. And through this experiments they learned to fashion a new species. The rise of humanity.

Despite all odds humanity prospered in this age. Under the tutelage and command of the Dragon-Kings they learned much about Creation. It was this endless urge to understand and create that drew the attention of the Primordial's. Taking select groups they where imbued with the blood of a Primordial. In this manner the Lintha where born and given dominion of an island-continent. Many species


End file.
